Ok so I completely failed to blog properly about Intro Week. In short: it was fun, I met lots of people and then it was over. Since then I’ve had one week of school and it’s been great. The workload this winter is going to be heavy, but I’m excited for everything I’m going to be learning, albeit a little intimidated.

Today I finally got some decent information about the field trip to Kenya. It was exciting and terrifying all at once. I think that while my teacher was trying to be honest with us, she was also probably enjoying scaring us a bit.

We leave on January 15th from Heathrow. The flight is close to 12 hours long. Then we stay at Lake Elementaita Lodge for one night before we drive to the Marich Pass Field Studies Centre. Apparently this is a very poor, very remote area and getting there isn’t easy. The roads are very bad and the drive is likely to take up to 10-11 hours.

There is limited electricity there. We will have access to plugs at the dining hall (I think) to charge our phones, but otherwise we’ll do without. There are open-air showers. The look on the teachers face was positively sadistic when she mentioned that there are bugs the size of birds. *panic*

So yes, this trip is way out of my comfort zone and I’m nervous. I am also incredibly excited and I know this is going to be very good for me. I’m a terribly spoiled, way too sanitized and completely clueless. Hopefully this will serve to widen my horizon considerably and teach me a few good life lessons.

Before I go I’ll have to get lots of extreme sunblock, good shoes, immunizations, travel insurance (from Iceland or the UK?) and possibly therapy for my arachnophobia.

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In other news: Sheffield is awesome, classes are fantastic and life is good.